Cyclocross season is in full swing in most parts of the country, but there are plenty of folks ready to upgrade categories and equipment as the season progresses. We at localcycling.com like light wheels. We also like deep profiles. So when we found the opportunity to test out HED’s offering for a deep carbon tubular wheelset we jumped.
We shod the 60mm Stinger 6’s with Vittoria XM’s 32mm tubulars and went to work at the opening race of the Kansas City season. Dry grass conditions with lots of corners, some hard pack near singletrack and plenty of fast pavement.
The XM tire is billed as a ‘mud tire’, but we had used this rubber on previous wheel tests and wanted to keep the continuity. Like some other ‘mudder’ tires, the slightly more aggressive tread actually hooks up well on dry turf. But we were really about the wheels for this review.
One of the first things we noticed was in the installation of the tires. We won’t go step by step in our top secret glue method, but when it was time to stick the tires to the rim, it was one of the easiest jobs ever. The extra wide channel had the tire centered and tread straight faster than any combo we’ve ever glued. And we’ve glued a lot.
Putting the wheels on the bike took a little more wrangling. Becasue the whee is wider at the rim than many others, we had to do a significant brake readjust. And widening the cantis for the HEDs meant it would not be any easy swap to a narrower wheelset. It can be done IF you’ve got lots of barrel adjuster. That said, we probably weren’t going to run anything else on the ‘A’ bike. So if you’re a two bike (or more) person, you’re less likely swapping wheels than bikes.
At our first race (and the following dry condition second event) the wheels were outstanding. 1300 grams and the ability to push sand with the deep profile is a gold standard in ‘cross. Another very cool feature was the lateral stiffness. With big wheels and a little torque, our testers have pushed some carbon rims into the brakes. Not on these.
How about the price? $1500. No that’s not bargain basement budget, but some other similar weighted popular whees are significantly more expensive.
Part 2 coming: Mud and hubs.